Dietary fat intake has been associated with a number of undesired health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, increased cholesterol levels, etc. Thus, there is a great desire to find edible ingredients which are capable of partially or totally replacing fats in foods, and a number of fat replacements are known in the art. However, there are a number of problems associated with many of these fat replacements. One such problem is that some fat replacements may not provide a final product having the same texture and/or mouthfeel as a product prepared with fat. For example, when certain fat replacements are used to prepare baked products, the final baked product is tougher, dryer (less moist) and has a lower volume than a product prepared with fat. Other examples of such problems include fat replacements which lack heat stability or exhibit undesirable physical effects on consumers, for example anal leakage.
Thus, a most desired fat replacement would mimic fats in all these areas, i.e., would provide products having the same or similar taste, feel, texture, heat stability and cooking properties as products prepared from fats, and yet would not possess or cause any of the undesirable properties or effects described above and would not have any additional undesirable physical effects of their own. Such is the case of the beta-glucanase treated water-soluble dietary fiber composition prepared in accordance with the present invention.
Alternatively, there are those who are unconcerned about fat in their diets and wish to maximize the mouthfeel and textural properties associated with fats. The beta-glucanase treated water-soluble dietary fiber compositions of the present invention, when used as a food additive instead of as a fat replacement, act in concert with any fats present in food products to amplify the texture and mouthfeel properties associated with such fats.